Idle mode power consumption reduction in wireless communications

ABSTRACT

Idle mode power consumption reduction in wireless communications. Within a wireless communication device that is operative to communicate with any one of a number of servicing cells, paging broadcasts from more than one of these servicing cells are received and undergo only a limited amount of processing before being stored for use in subsequent processing that may be performed later. This partitioned processing allows the turning off of certain components that are not needed and/or no longer needed for determining the system frame numbers associated with various servicing cells to effectuate timing synchronization. Certain modules within such a wireless communication device may perform processing using the full capabilities of the wireless communication device to generate initially processed signal, and then after such signals are stored, then only partial processing capability of the wireless communication device may be employed, even though perhaps being slower, to complete the processing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS/PATENT APPLICATIONS ProvisionalPriority Claims

The present U.S. Utility Patent Application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. §119(e) to the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applicationwhich is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety andmade part of the present U.S. Utility Patent Application for allpurposes:

1. U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/155,482, entitled “Idle modepower consumption reduction in wireless communications,” filed Feb. 25,2009, pending.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to communication devices; and, moreparticularly, it relates to power management as may be implemented andperformed within such communication devices.

2. Description of Related Art

Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire linedcommunications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices.Such communication systems range from national and/or internationalcellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-homewireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, andhence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards.For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordancewith one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11,Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access(CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS),multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), radio frequencyidentification (RFID), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE),General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), and/or variations thereof.

Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wirelesscommunication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio,personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptopcomputer, home entertainment equipment, RFID reader, RFID tag, et ceteracommunicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communicationdevices. For direct communications (also known as point-to-pointcommunications), the participating wireless communication devices tunetheir receivers and transmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g.,one of the plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wirelesscommunication system or a particular RF frequency for some systems) andcommunicate over that channel(s). For indirect wireless communications,each wireless communication device communicates directly with anassociated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or anassociated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wirelessnetwork) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connectionbetween the wireless communication devices, the associated base stationsand/or associated access points communicate with each other directly,via a system controller, via the public switch telephone network, viathe Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.

For each wireless communication device to participate in wirelesscommunications, it includes a built-in radio transceiver (i.e., receiverand transmitter) or is coupled to an associated radio transceiver (e.g.,a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communicationnetworks, RF modem, etc.). As is known, the receiver is coupled to anantenna and includes a low noise amplifier, one or more intermediatefrequency stages, a filtering stage, and a data recovery stage. The lownoise amplifier receives inbound RF signals via the antenna andamplifies then. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix theamplified RF signals with one or more local oscillations to convert theamplified RF signal into baseband signals or intermediate frequency (IF)signals. The filtering stage filters the baseband signals or the IFsignals to attenuate unwanted out of band signals to produce filteredsignals. The data recovery stage recovers raw data from the filteredsignals in accordance with the particular wireless communicationstandard.

As is also known, the transmitter includes a data modulation stage, oneor more intermediate frequency stages, and a power amplifier. The datamodulation stage converts raw data into baseband signals in accordancewith a particular wireless communication standard. The one or moreintermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or morelocal oscillations to produce RF signals. The power amplifier amplifiesthe RF signals prior to transmission via an antenna.

While transmitters generally include a data modulation stage, one ormore IF stages, and a power amplifier, the particular implementation ofthese elements is dependent upon the data modulation scheme of thestandard being supported by the transceiver. For example, if thebaseband modulation scheme is Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), thedata modulation stage functions to convert digital words into quadraturemodulation symbols, which have a constant amplitude and varying phases.The IF stage includes a phase locked loop (PLL) that generates anoscillation at a desired RF frequency, which is modulated based on thevarying phases produced by the data modulation stage. The phasemodulated RF signal is then amplified by the power amplifier inaccordance with a transmit power level setting to produce a phasemodulated RF signal.

As another example, if the data modulation scheme is 8-PSK (phase shiftkeying), the data modulation stage functions to convert digital wordsinto symbols having varying amplitudes and varying phases. The IF stageincludes a phase locked loop (PLL) that generates an oscillation at adesired RF frequency, which is modulated based on the varying phasesproduced by the data modulation stage. The phase modulated RF signal isthen amplified by the power amplifier in accordance with the varyingamplitudes to produce a phase and amplitude modulated RF signal.

As yet another example, if the data modulation scheme is x-QAM (16, 64,128, 256 quadrature amplitude modulation), the data modulation stagefunctions to convert digital words into Cartesian coordinate symbols(e.g., having an in-phase signal component and a quadrature signalcomponent). The IF stage includes mixers that mix the in-phase signalcomponent with an in-phase local oscillation and mix the quadraturesignal component with a quadrature local oscillation to produce twomixed signals. The mixed signals are summed together and filtered toproduce an RF signal that is subsequently amplified by a poweramplifier.

Within wireless communication systems, there is typically a requirementto maintain a timing reference for transmitting and receiving thecontrol information and data. Many such wireless communication systemsutilize a frame based timing synchronization for this purpose.Accordingly, a System Frame Number (SFN) is associated with each framein such a system. For instance, in the Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (WCDMA) systems, an access terminal is required to determine theSystem Frame Number (SFN) of its serving cell as well as its neighborcells on a periodic basis and report it back to the communicationnetwork.

In order to economize on power consumption, access terminals typicallyemploy some form of Discontinuous Reception (DRX) technique. A typicalDRX mechanism involves turning Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry; basebandhardware accelerators and host processor off for most of the time (sleepduration) and turned on only periodically to monitor the paginginformation sent on specific paging occasions (wakeup periods). However,this requirement to monitor the SFN necessitates that access terminalkeeps the components on for an undesirably long duration. This extendedwakeup duration is often very long due to the length of cell lists forcells whose SFNs needs to be monitored. Keeping a wireless communicationdevice awake for such long periods of time can significantly drain theenergy of a wireless communication device, which is particularlyundesirable in the context of personal wireless communication systems.There does not exist any means in the art for monitoring such servicingcell lists in an effective manner.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to apparatus and methods of operationthat are further described in the following Brief Description of theSeveral Views of the Drawings, the Detailed Description of theInvention, and the claims. Other features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following detailed descriptionof the invention made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of timing diagram showingimpact of system frame number (SFN) reads on a wireless communicationdevice.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, when considered together, is a diagram illustratingan embodiment of a method for performing SFN decoding on multipleservicing cells.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of timingdiagram showing impact of SFN reads on a wireless communication device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of awireless communication device.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 are diagrams illustrating alternative embodiment ofmethods for performing SFN decoding on multiple servicing cells.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As also mentioned above with respect to background of the related art,within wireless communication systems, there is typically a requirementto maintain a timing reference for transmitting and receiving thecontrol information and data. Herein, various means are presented bywhich the requisite wakeup duration needed to ascertain system framenumbers (SFNs) for various servicing cells perform timingsynchronization is significantly reduced within a wireless communicationdevice. By doing so, the energy (e.g., battery life) of such a wirelesscommunication device may be significantly extended. In one embodiment,by storing the broadcasted information during paging occasions for allcells in a parallel manner and processing them later using a muchreduced hardware set facilitates significant reduction in powerconsumption towards SFN evaluation.

In one possible embodiment, the paging broadcasts received by a wirelesscommunication device initially undergo a portion of parallel processingto generate processed signals that are stored. Later on, using a muchreduced hardware set, those stored signals undergo processing in a lessthan fully parallel manner (e.g., serial in one instance) to ascertainthe SFNs for use in accordance with timing synchronization. Also, byturning off certain of the highest current consuming modules within thewireless communication device (i.e., those that typically consume themost power), the battery life of a wireless communication device can beextended significantly.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication system 100. The wireless communication system 100 includesa plurality of base stations and/or access points 112, 116, a pluralityof wireless communication devices 118-132 and a network hardwarecomponent 134. Note that the network hardware 134, which may be arouter, switch, bridge, modem, system controller, etc. provides a widearea network connection 142 for the communication system 100. Furthernote that the wireless communication devices 118-132 may be laptop hostcomputers 118 and 126, personal digital assistant hosts 120 and 130,personal computer hosts 124 and 132 and/or cellular telephone hosts 122and 128.

Wireless communication devices 122, 123, and 124 are located within anindependent basic service set (IBSS) area and communicate directly(i.e., point to point). In this configuration, these devices 122, 123,and 124 may only communicate with each other. To communicate with otherwireless communication devices within the system 100 or to communicateoutside of the system 100, the devices 122, 123, and/or 124 need toaffiliate with one of the base stations or access points 112 or 116.

The base stations or access points 112, 116 are located within basicservice set (BSS) areas 111 and 113, respectively, and are operablycoupled to the network hardware 134 via local area network connections136, 138. Such a connection provides the base station or access point112-116 with connectivity to other devices within the system 100 andprovides connectivity to other networks via the WAN connection 142. Tocommunicate with the wireless communication devices within its BSS 111or 113, each of the base stations or access points 112-116 has anassociated antenna or antenna array. For instance, base station oraccess point 112 wirelessly communicates with wireless communicationdevices 118 and 120 while base station or access point 116 wirelesslycommunicates with wireless communication devices 126-132. Typically, thewireless communication devices register with a particular base stationor access point 112, 116 to receive services from the communicationsystem 100.

Typically, base stations are used for cellular telephone systems (e.g.,advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system formobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), localmulti-point distribution systems (LMDS), multi-channel-multi-pointdistribution systems (MMDS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), high-speed downlink packetaccess (HSDPA), high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA and/or variationsthereof) and like-type systems, while access points are used for in-homeor in-building wireless networks (e.g., IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee,any other type of radio frequency based network protocol and/orvariations thereof). Regardless of the particular type of communicationsystem, each wireless communication device includes a built-in radioand/or is coupled to a radio.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device 200 that includes the host device 118-132 and anassociated radio 260. For cellular telephone hosts, the radio 260 is abuilt-in component. For personal digital assistants hosts, laptop hosts,and/or personal computer hosts, the radio 260 may be built-in or anexternally coupled component.

As illustrated, the host device 118-132 includes a processing module250, memory 252, a radio interface 254, an input interface 258, and anoutput interface 256. The processing module 250 and memory 252 executethe corresponding instructions that are typically done by the hostdevice. For example, for a cellular telephone host device, theprocessing module 250 performs the corresponding communication functionsin accordance with a particular cellular telephone standard.

The radio interface 254 allows data to be received from and sent to theradio 260. For data received from the radio 260 (e.g., inbound data),the radio interface 254 provides the data to the processing module 250for further processing and/or routing to the output interface 256. Theoutput interface 256 provides connectivity to an output display devicesuch as a display, monitor, speakers, et cetera such that the receiveddata may be displayed. The radio interface 254 also provides data fromthe processing module 250 to the radio 260. The processing module 250may receive the outbound data from an input device such as a keyboard,keypad, microphone, et cetera via the input interface 258 or generatethe data itself. For data received via the input interface 258, theprocessing module 250 may perform a corresponding host function on thedata and/or route it to the radio 260 via the radio interface 254.

Radio 260 includes a host interface 262, digital receiver processingmodule 264, an analog-to-digital converter 266, a high pass and low passfilter module 268, an IF mixing down conversion stage 270, a receiverfilter 271, a low noise amplifier 272, a transmitter/receiver switch273, a local oscillation module 274, memory 275, a digital transmitterprocessing module 276, a digital-to-analog converter 278, afiltering/gain module 280, an IF mixing up conversion stage 282, a poweramplifier 284, a transmitter filter module 285, a channel bandwidthadjust module 287, and an antenna 286. The antenna 286 may be a singleantenna that is shared by the transmit and receive paths as regulated bythe Tx/Rx switch 273, or may include separate antennas for the transmitpath and receive path. The antenna implementation will depend on theparticular standard to which the wireless communication device 200 iscompliant.

The digital receiver processing module 264 and the digital transmitterprocessing module 276, in combination with operational instructionsstored in memory 275, execute digital receiver functions and digitaltransmitter functions, respectively. The digital receiver functionsinclude, but are not limited to, digital intermediate frequency tobaseband conversion, demodulation, constellation demapping, decoding,and/or descrambling. The digital transmitter functions include, but arenot limited to, scrambling, encoding, constellation mapping, modulation,and/or digital baseband to IF conversion. The digital receiver andtransmitter processing modules 264 and 276 may be implemented using ashared processing device, individual processing devices, or a pluralityof processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor,micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, centralprocessing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logicdevice, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digitalcircuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/ordigital) based on operational instructions. The memory 275 may be asingle memory device or a plurality of memory devices. Such a memorydevice may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory,non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, and/orany device that stores digital information. Note that when theprocessing module 264 and/or 276 implements one or more of its functionsvia a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logiccircuitry, the memory storing the corresponding operational instructionsis embedded with the circuitry comprising the state machine, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry.

In operation, the radio 260 receives outbound data 294 from the hostdevice via the host interface 262. The host interface 262 routes theoutbound data 294 to the digital transmitter processing module 276,which processes the outbound data 294 in accordance with a particularwireless communication standard (e.g., IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee,any other type of radio frequency based network protocol and/orvariations thereof et cetera) to produce outbound baseband signals 296.The outbound baseband signals 296 will be digital base-band signals(e.g., have a zero IF) or digital low IF signals, where the low IFtypically will be in the frequency range of one hundred kHz (kilo-Hertz)to a few MHz (Mega-Hertz).

The digital-to-analog converter 278 converts the outbound basebandsignals 296 from the digital domain to the analog domain. Thefiltering/gain module 280 filters and/or adjusts the gain of the analogsignals prior to providing it to the IF mixing stage 282. The IF mixingstage 282 converts the analog baseband or low IF signals into RF signalsbased on a transmitter local oscillation 283 provided by localoscillation module 274. The power amplifier 284 amplifies the RF signalsto produce outbound RF signals 298, which are filtered by thetransmitter filter module 285. The antenna 286 transmits the outbound RFsignals 298 to a targeted device such as a base station, an access pointand/or another wireless communication device 200.

The radio 260 also receives inbound RF signals 288 via the antenna 286,which were transmitted by a base station, an access point, or anotherwireless communication device. The antenna 286 provides the inbound RFsignals 288 to the receiver filter module 271 via the Tx/Rx switch 273,where the Rx filter 271 bandpass filters the inbound RF signals 288. TheRx filter 271 provides the filtered RF signals to low noise amplifier272, which amplifies the signals 288 to produce an amplified inbound RFsignals. The low noise amplifier 272 provides the amplified inbound RFsignals to the IF mixing module 270, which directly converts theamplified inbound RF signals into an inbound low IF signals or basebandsignals based on a receiver local oscillation 281 provided by localoscillation module 274. The down conversion module 270 provides theinbound low IF signals or baseband signals to the filtering/gain module268. The high pass and low pass filter module 268 filters, based onsettings provided by the channel bandwidth adjust module 287, theinbound low IF signals or the inbound baseband signals to producefiltered inbound signals.

The analog-to-digital converter 266 converts the filtered inboundsignals from the analog domain to the digital domain to produce inboundbaseband signals 290, where the inbound baseband signals 290 will bedigital base-band signals or digital low IF signals, where the low IFtypically will be in the frequency range of one hundred kHz to a fewMHz. The digital receiver processing module 264, based on settingsprovided by the channel bandwidth adjust module 287, decodes,descrambles, demaps, and/or demodulates the inbound baseband signals 290to recapture inbound data 292 in accordance with the particular wirelesscommunication standard being implemented by radio 260. The hostinterface 262 provides the recaptured inbound data 292 to the hostdevice 118-132 via the radio interface 254.

As the reader will appreciate, the wireless communication device 200 ofFIG. 2 may be implemented using one or more integrated circuits. Forexample, the host device may be implemented on one integrated circuit,the digital receiver processing module 264, the digital transmitterprocessing module 276 and memory 275 may be implemented on a secondintegrated circuit, and the remaining components of the radio 260, lessthe antenna 286, may be implemented on a third integrated circuit. As analternate example, the radio 260 may be implemented on a singleintegrated circuit. As yet another example, the processing module 250 ofthe host device and the digital receiver and transmitter processingmodules 264 and 276 may be a common processing device implemented on asingle integrated circuit. Further, the memory 252 and memory 275 may beimplemented on a single integrated circuit and/or on the same integratedcircuit as the common processing modules of processing module 250 andthe digital receiver and transmitter processing module 264 and 276.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device 300. The diagram also captures the three primarysubsystems in a typical mobile station (i.e., wireless communicationdevice): an RF module, one or more hardware accelerator modules, and ahost processor module.

A radio frequency (RF) module 310 receives signals transmitted to thewireless communication device 300. The RF module 310 may be coupled toone or more antennae (e.g., in a rake finger and/ormultiple-in/multiple-out (MIMO) type configuration) to effectuate thereceipt signals transmitted to the wireless communication device 300. Inthe RF module 310, the analog processing for incoming RF signals isprocessed in the analog domain in a separate RF card or an integrated RFcircuit.

This RF module 310 may be viewed as being an analog front end (AFE)module or a module that performs analog RF processing and may performany of a variety of operations including any one of digital to analogconversion (e.g., sampling), gain adjustment, filtering, frequencyconversion, etc. The in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) samples generated bythe RF module 310 are passed to a baseband processing module 320. TheseI/Q samples may be viewed as being demodulated signals in someembodiments.

These in-phase and quadrature phase (I/Q) samples are fed to hardwareaccelerator portion that includes a baseband processing module 320 thatis operative to perform one or more of a variety of operations,including descrambling 320 a, despreading 320 b, pilot filtering 320 c,rake combining 320 d (e.g., when the wireless communication device 300includes a rake finger configuration), metric generation 320 e (e.g.,when various constellation types are employed), de-interleaving 320 f,and/or any other appropriate processing within such a basebandprocessing module 320.

Soft symbols are generated by the baseband processing module 320 andpassed to a Viterbi decoder module 330 that processes the soft symbols.In this embodiment, the last leg of this path in hardware is done by theViterbi decoder module 330 that processes the soft symbols and producesthe broadcast channel's (BCH) transport block. The host processor [thatincludes a logic module for SFN 340] on the system reads out specificbits related to SFN from this BCH transport block and deciphers the SFNfrom it and passes onto one or more higher layers, as shown by referencenumeral 350.

It has to be noted that for a BCH transport block, due to a relativelymoderate spreading factor, the bulk of heavy processing is performedunto the soft symbols and decoding can easily be done later on (e.g., inthe software domain in one embodiment). Also, due to fewer soft symbolsgenerated by a BCH transport block, the memory requirements for aservicing cell's BCH transport block is far less compared to a typicaldata channel. Therefore post-processing of BCH's soft symbols is aviable option. On the contrary, storing I/Q samples and post-processingon them may be impractical from a memory and processing standpoint forcertain applications.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of timing diagram 400showing impact of system frame number (SFN) reads on a wirelesscommunication device. As mentioned earlier, a mobile station (e.g.,wireless communication device) capable of sleep mode operation utilizesa discontinuous reception (DRX) technique as depicted in this diagram.

In particular, considering one particular case, for a sample DRX cycleof length 64 frames (e.g., X=64 as depicted in the diagram for such acase, though clearly X may have other values), the User Equipment (UE)on the mobile station wakes up periodically every 64 frames to read thepaging information available on the Paging Indicator Channel (PICH). Itcan be seen in the diagram that at frame numbers N−X (i.e., N−64 in thisexample) and N+X (i.e., N+64 in this example), the UE is awake just for1-2 frames simply to perform the read of the PICH information.

However, very often the UE is required to read SFNs on several servicingcells (the one servicing cell actually serving that particular UE andneighbor servicing cells) and evaluate differences between the servingcell's SFN and the neighbor cells' SFNs. The frame offsets of the actualserving cell and the neighbor cells are reported to the higher layersfor further processing.

In one embodiment, the UE reads the SFN on individual cells one-by-oneand updates the frame offsets as shown at frame number N. Also, anexemplary UE device would require up to 3 frames for blind detection ofa cell's SFN and 2 frames for a verification of a known SFN frameoffset. Blind detection in this context refers to case where the SFN ofa cell is being decoded for the first time. Accordingly, for a neighborcell list of size M, this translates to an extra awake period of 2M to3M frames. This diagram shows an extra wakeup period of about 8 framesaround frame N, entirely due to SFN evaluation, which is about 16% ofthe sleep cycle for this case and a roughly 4 fold increase in powerconsumption per DRX cycle. It is notable that an exemplary device, asshown in this diagram, would require all the three components—RFcircuitry, hardware accelerator and host processor to process theincoming signal for this extra duration.

In other words, all of the components of the wireless communicationdevice would be fully energized and operable during this extendedduration. This is highly consumptive of the energy of the wirelesscommunication device, which can be particularly undesirable when thewireless communication device is operating on battery power.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device 500. The embodiment of this diagram also capturesthe three primary subsystems in a typical mobile station (i.e., wirelesscommunication device): an RF module, one or more hardware acceleratormodules, and a host processor module. However, the partitioning of thesethree primary subsystems may be effectuated differently than in previousembodiments.

A radio frequency (RF) module 510 receives signals transmitted to thewireless communication device 500. The RF module 510 may be coupled toone or more antennae (e.g., in a rake finger and/or MIMO typeconfiguration) to effectuate the receipt signals transmitted to thewireless communication device 500. In the RF module 510, the analogprocessing for incoming RF signals is processed in the analog domain ina separate RF card or an integrated RF circuit.

This RF module 510 may be viewed as being an analog front end (AFE)module or a module that performs analog RF processing and may performany of a variety of operations including any one of digital to analogconversion (e.g., sampling), gain adjustment, filtering, frequencyconversion, etc. The in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) samples generated bythe RF module 510 are passed to a baseband processing module 520. TheseI/Q samples may be viewed as being demodulated signals in someembodiments. It is also noted that in this embodiment and others, thereneed not necessarily be separate I/Q streams, and a wirelesscommunication device that operates only one stream (e.g., I stream onlyor Q stream only), using some form of parallel processing therein, mayalso be viewed as generating demodulated signals as well.

In this embodiment, these in-phase and quadrature phase (I/Q) samplesare fed to a hardware accelerator portion that includes a basebandprocessing module 520 that is operative to perform one or more of avariety of operations, including descrambling 520 a, despreading 520 b,pilot filtering 520 c, rake combining 520 d (e.g., when the wirelesscommunication device 500 includes a rake finger configuration), metricgeneration 520 e (e.g., when various constellation types are employed),and/or any other appropriate processing within such a basebandprocessing module 520. In certain embodiments, the de-interleaving 520 fmay be performed in a serial manner. Therefore, in this embodiment, thede-interleaving 520 f is shown as being performed independently andseparately from certain other of the operations performed within thebaseband processing module 520.

Up to this point, processing within the wireless communication device500 is performed in accordance with parallel processing. Thereafter,processing within the wireless communication device 500 is performed inaccordance with serial processing or less than fully parallel processing(e.g., partial parallel processing).

The hardware accelerator portion of this embodiment also includes amemory module 525 that is operative to store the various soft symbolsgenerated within another part of the hardware accelerator portion (e.g.,in the baseband processing module 520 of this embodiment).

As mentioned above, paging broadcasts multiple servicing cells (i.e.,the actual serving cell and one or more neighboring cells) are monitoredand processed to generate the appropriate SFNs for use in timingsynchronization. As such, in this embodiment, the soft symbols for eachof these servicing cells are stored in the memory module 525. Thisembodiment shows separate partitioning of the soft symbols for each ofthese servicing cells in the memory module 525, though an appropriateaddressing scheme could also be employed if desired to store themdifferently.

Herein, the DRX wakeup periods are considerably reduced by performingthe computationally intensive processing in a parallel fashion andstoring the processed information. This stored information is processedlater in an offline, serial fashion (or less than fully parallelfashion), each of this offline processing being very light in terms ofcomputational intensity, so that it can be performed by the hostprocessor module itself. This is achieved by making use of all idleresources in an exemplary UE architecture during paging broadcastsoccasions and putting the RF circuitry and other hardware blocks tosleep as soon as possible.

In a typical implementation, each rake finger has its own descrambling,dispreading, pilot filtering, etc. blocks. The serving cell typicallyhas fewer multi-paths with good signal energies available than thenumber of fingers in an exemplary design. Further, the paging indicatorchannel (PICH) does not require de-interleaving at all. In oneembodiment, for performing SFN decodes, these idle fingers of a rakefinger configuration are employed in a concurrent fashion for individualcells, and enhanced control for a serial usage of de-interleaving 520 fis achieved for each cell. This is illustrated in the embodiment of FIG.5.

As shown in FIG. 5 and the combination of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, separatefingers are assigned to individual cells for several multipaths, inparallel with serving cells' fingers for PICH reading. The fingers foreach of the cells do the descrambling, dispreading and pilot filteringon incoming I/Q samples.

The fingers of a cell use the existing combining methodology to producethe combined symbols. These symbols are written in separate memorylocations. The exemplary UE designs are provisioned for very high symbolrate and PICH symbol rate in a DRX wakeup cycle is negligible.Consequently, no additional memory is required for simultaneouslystoring M sets of BCH symbols for M cells, as a broadcast channel'ssymbol rate is about 1/32 of the maximum supported symbol rates onexemplary UEs.

Once all the symbols of measured cells' BCH blocks are then ready, andthe RF module 510 (and all circuitry associated therewith) can becompletely turned off and all the processing can be done off-line usingthe hardware accelerator module and/or host processor, offeringsignificant advantage of saving power by turning the RF module 510 offmuch earlier than existing designs within the art.

Further, once all the soft symbols of a cell are ready, de-interleaving520 f on individual cells can be done by either the hardware acceleratorportion or instead in software in an alternative embodiment. Of course,if the de-interleaving 520 f would be desired to be performed in asimilar manner as other of the operations performed within the basebandprocessing module 520, it could of course be emplaced within thebaseband processing module 520. The de-interleaving 520 f may beperformed in the serial (or less than fully parallel processing) portionof the wireless communication device 500.

The soft symbols are output from the memory module 525 (with or withouthaving undergone de-interleaving 520 f, whichever is appropriate for aparticular application) are then passed to a host processor module thatperforms Viterbi decoding using a Viterbi decoder module 530 therein.The relatively modest requirements of Viterbi decoding for broadcastchannel (BCH) transport blocks of different cells can be met in a serialmanner in either appropriately designed hardware or within software ofan appropriately designed embodiment. In a hardware application, anadded advantage of turning off the entire hardware accelerator may beperformed once the symbols for all measured cells are ready.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, when considered together, is a diagram illustratingan embodiment of a method 601/602 for performing SFN decoding onmultiple servicing cells. FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, when considered together,shows the details of logic to be applied in proposed approach for fastsystem frame number (SFN) decoding. The method 601/602 leverages fromunused rake fingers in a wakeup duration. Even if all available fingersare used for PICH monitoring (i.e., and unavailable for other usesduring those periods), this approach utilizes optimal rake fingerallocation to fetch BCH symbols in an extremely fast manner. Further, ifall fingers are utilized and some cells are left over, this method601/602 can be utilized in a pipelined fashion to evaluate the SFNs onthe serving and neighbor cells.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, when considered together, can also be seen splittingthe use of all three components of a mobile station (e.g., RF circuitry,hardware accelerator and host processor) into three step logicaloptimization of turning these components off as soon they are no longerrequired. This is accomplished by effectively storing and passing oninformation from one component to other, with no extra overhead onmemory required for storage due to well-provisioned UE architecturedesigned for data rates much higher than broadcast channel (BCH).

The method 601/602 begins by starting a wakeup period (after a sleepperiod) as shown in a block 610. Then, the method 601/602 continues byassigning X rake fingers out of a total of Y available rake fingers to Xservicing cells multipaths for PICH read, as shown in a block 612.

As shown in a decision block 614, if it is determined that X<Y, then themethod 601/602 continues by waiting for a PICH read, and as such X=0 inthis case, as shown in a block 616. Alternatively, if it is determinedthat X>Y, then the method 601/602 continues by identifying M servicingcells to be measured, and initializing the cell index, I, to be 1, asshown in a block 618.

As shown in a decision block 620, if it is determined that i=M+1, thenthe method 601/602 continues by moving to the operations described by Ain FIG. 7.

However, as shown in the decision block 620, if it is determined thati≠M+1, then the method 601/602 continues by sorting the i-th cells'multipaths as shown in a block 622, and then setting Z_i multipaths, asshown in a block 624.

As shown in a decision block 626, if it is determined whether X plus thesum of all Z_i is less than or equal to Y. If X plus the sum of all Z_iis less than or equal to Y, then the method 601/602 continues byincrementing I by one, as shown in a block 628, and assigning the Z_irake fingers for the i-th cell SFN decode, as shown in a block 630, andthen returning to the decision block 620.

Alternatively, if X plus the sum of all Z_i is greater than Y, then themethod 601/602 continues by proceeding to decision block 632 where it isdetermined in any of the ongoing j-th cell's BCH symbols are ready. Ifnone of the ongoing j-th cell's BCH symbols are ready, then the method601/602 loops back to the decision block 632 (i.e., it waits until atleast one of the ongoing j-th cell's BCH symbols is ready).

When the ongoing j-th cell's BCH symbols are ready, then the method601/602 continues by de-assigning the j-th cell fingers, Z_j=0, andcreating the j-th cell's deinterleave job queue entry, as shown in ablock 634.

As shown in a decision block 636, if it is determined whether it is thefirst entry in the j-th cell's deinterleave job queue. If it is, thenthe method 601/602 continues by moving to the operations described by Bin FIG. 7. However, if it is not the first entry in the j-th cell'sdeinterleave job queue entry, then the method 601/602 continues bydetermining whether all M cell's symbols have been accumulated, as shownin a decision block 638. If they have all be been accumulated, then themethod 601/602 continues by turning off the RF module, as shown in ablock 640 and then returning to the decision block 620. Alternatively,if all M cell's symbols have not been accumulated, then the method601/602 operates by returning to the decision block 620 (i.e., and bynot turning off the RF module).

Referring again to the operations continuing with B from FIG. 6 and intoFIG. 7, the method 601/602 continues by starting the deinterleaving onthe next servicing cell in the queue, as shown in a block 642.

Referring again to the operations continuing with A from FIG. 6 and intoFIG. 7, the method 601/602 continues by determining if all ongoing k-thcells' BCH symbols are deinterleaved, as shown in a decision block 644.If they are not all deinterleaved, the method 601/602 continues byreturning to the decision block 644.

However, if all ongoing k-th cells' BCH symbols are deinterleaved, thenthe method 601/602 continues by creating the k-th cell Viterbi decoderjob queue, as shown in a block 646.

As shown in a decision block 648, if it is determined whether it is thefirst entry in the k-th cell Viterbi decoder job queue. If it is not,then the method 601/602 continues by determining whether all M cell'ssymbols have been deinterleaved, as shown in a decision block 650. Ifthey have all be deinterleaved, then the method 601/602 continues byturning off the hardware accelerator module, as shown in a block 652 andthen returning to the block 642. Alternatively, if all M cell's symbolshave not been deinterleaved, then the method 601/602 operates byreturning to the block 642 (i.e., and by not turning off the hardwareaccelerator module).

Referring back to the decision block 648, if it is not the first entryin the k-th cell Viterbi decoder job queue, then the method 601/602continues by starting the decoding on the next servicing cell in queue,as shown in a block 654.

The method 601/602 continues by determining if all ongoing k-th cells'BCH symbols are decoded, as shown in a decision block 656. If they arenot all decoded, the method 601/602 continues by returning to thedecision block 656.

However, if all ongoing k-th cells' BCH symbols are decoded, then themethod 601/602 continues by deciphering and storing the cell's SFNoffset, as shown in a block 658.

The method 601/602 continues by determining if all M cells' BCH symbolsare decoded, as shown in a decision block 660. If they are not alldecoded, the method 601/602 continues by returning to the block 654.However, if all of the M cells' BCH symbols are decoded, then the method601/602 continues by turning off the host processor and entering thesleep period, as shown in a block 662.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of timingdiagram 800 showing impact of SFN reads on a wireless communicationdevice. A deeper analysis of power consumption within a wirelesscommunication device operating in accordance with the novel meanspresented herein results in a current profile similar to the one shownin this diagram. As can be seen, the RF circuitry is turned off theearliest, followed by hardware accelerators. In this embodiment, thehost processor does the Viterbi decoding on the 4 cells in a time thatis much shorter/smaller than is performed using existing approacheswithin the art. The host processor is the last one to be turned offafter which the UE goes to sleep.

A sample scenario for the novel means effectuated using a wirelesscommunication device 500 that operates in accordance with the method601/602 of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, (with known SFN offset, re-evaluation) of4 servicing cells can be described to see a concrete example of thesignificant savings achieved herein.

With a total of 12 rake fingers, with serving cell requiring 4 rakefingers for PICH decoding, the UE still has 8 idle fingers. To exploitthese 8 idle fingers to use same I/Q samples as those used by PICHfingers, this novel means presented herein provides a way of turning theRF module off much earlier. Assuming all 4 cells have an average of 2multipaths each, the symbol accumulation for all 4 cells can be done by8 available fingers in parallel with PICH read. The RF circuit needs tobe ON for only 2-3 frames (depending on servicing cell's chip offsets).Further, the hardware accelerator and host processor need to be on foronly a little longer than RF activity duration. In all, this samplescenario illustrates current savings of at least 5-6 frames compared toFIG. 4 for each of the three subsystems.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device 900. As with other embodiments, the embodiment ofthis diagram also captures the three primary subsystems in a typicalmobile station (i.e., wireless communication device): an RF module 910,a hardware accelerator module 920, and a host processor module 940.

This RF module 910 may be viewed as being an analog front end (AFE)module or a module that performs analog RF processing and may performany of a variety of operations including any one of digital to analogconversion (e.g., sampling), gain adjustment, filtering, frequencyconversion, etc.

A RF module 910 receives signals transmitted to the wirelesscommunication device 500. The RF module 910 of this embodiment iscoupled to one or more antennae. Within the RF module, each rake fingers(a number of rake fingers corresponding to the number of antennae)receive a signal from its respective antenna and produces a demodulatedsignal. Together, the rake fingers produce demodulated signals that arepassed to a hardware accelerator module 920 that employs a processingmodule 930 a therein to generate soft symbol groups that are stored in amemory module 930. Up to the point in which the soft symbol groups arestored in the memory module 930, the processing within the wirelesscommunication device 900 is performed in accordance with parallelprocessing.

After the soft symbol groups are placed in the memory module 930, theyare provided to a host processor module 940. The host processor module940 performs serial Viterbi decoding of each of the soft symbol groupsthereby generating broadcast channel transport blocks such that eachbroadcast channel transport block corresponds to one of the servicingcells with which the wireless communication device can communicate. Thehost processor module 940 also performs serial processing of thebroadcast channel transport blocks thereby generating a system framenumbers (SFNs), for use in timing synchronization with respect to theservicing cells, such that each frame number corresponds to one of theservicing cells. The SFNs may then be passed to a higher protocol layermodule.

In one embodiment, the RF module 910 is turned off after each of thesoft symbol groups is stored in the memory module 930.

In one possible embodiment, a control module 999 is coupled to each ofthe RF module 910, the hardware accelerator module 920, and the hostprocessor module 940. The control module 999 is operative to turn oneach of the RF module, the hardware accelerator module 910 including thememory module 930 therein, and the host processor module 940 at abeginning of a wakeup period. The control module 999 is operative toturn off the RF module 910 after each of the soft symbol groups isstored in the memory module 930. The control module 999 is operative toturn off the hardware accelerator module 920 after the host processormodule 940 has generated the broadcast channel transport blocks and thecontrol module 999 is operative to turn off the memory module 930 andthe host processor module 940 after the system frame numbers aregenerated and output to a higher protocol layer module.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of awireless communication device 1000. This embodiment is somewhatanalogous to the previous embodiment (e.g., including a RF module 1010having multiple rake fingers, a hardware accelerator 1020 that includesa processing module 1030, a memory module 1030 a, and a host processormodule 1040, etc.). At least one difference in this embodiment is adeinterleaver 1035 situated after the memory module 1030 within thehardware accelerator 1020.

In this embodiment, as within certain other embodiments described above,the paging indicator channel (PICH) does not require de-interleaving atall. Therefore, in this embodiment as with some others, for performingSFN decodes, the idle fingers of a rake finger configuration areemployed in a concurrent fashion for individual cells, and enhancedcontrol for a serial usage of de-interleaver 1035 is achieved for eachcell.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 are diagrams illustrating alternative embodiment ofmethods 1100 and 1200, respectively, for performing SFN decoding onmultiple servicing cells.

Referring to method 1100 of FIG. 11, the method 1100 begins by employinga radio frequency (RF) module to perform parallel processing of aplurality of paging broadcasts corresponding to a plurality of servicingcells thereby generating a plurality of demodulated signals, as shown ina block 1110. The method 1100 continues by processing the plurality ofdemodulated signals thereby generating a corresponding plurality of softsymbol groups such that each soft symbol group corresponds to one of theplurality of servicing cells, as shown in a block 1120.

The method 1100 continues by storing each of the plurality of softsymbol groups in a memory module, as shown in a block 1130. The method1100 continues by turning off the RF module after each of the pluralityof soft symbol groups is stored in the memory module, as shown in ablock 1140.

The method 1100 continues by performing serial Viterbi decoding of eachof the plurality of soft symbol groups thereby generating a plurality ofbroadcast channel transport blocks such that each broadcast channeltransport block corresponds to one of the plurality of servicing cells,as shown in a block 1150.

The method 1100 continues by perform serial processing of the pluralityof broadcast channel transport blocks thereby generating a plurality ofsystem frame numbers, for use in timing synchronization with respect tothe plurality of servicing cells, such that each frame numbercorresponds to one of the plurality of servicing cells, as shown in ablock 1160.

Referring to method 1200 of FIG. 12, the method 1200 begins by waking upcommunication device for period of time to receive paging broadcastsfrom two or more servicing cells, as shown in a block 1210. The method1200 continues by storing paging broadcasts (or demodulated signals orsymbol groups generated there from) in a memory module, as shown in ablock 1220.

The method 1200 continues by turning off unnecessary module(s), as shownin a block 1230. The method 1200 continues by performing processing ofpaging broadcasts (or demodulated signals or symbol groups generatedthere from) using reduced hardware set to generate system frame numbers(for timing synchronization), as shown in a block 1240. The operationswithin the block 1240 can be performed serially, as shown in a block1240 a, or alternatively in a less than fully parallel manner as shownin a block 1240 b. For example, a less than fully parallel processingmanner (e.g., partially parallel) may be viewed as processing X of atotal of X×Y signals at a time, or alternatively, processing X1 signalsat time 1 followed by processing X2 signals at time 2, and so on).

In various of the embodiments presented herein, it is noted that certainof the less computationally intensive tasks (e.g., Viterbi decoding forbroadcasted Signal) can either be performed in a hardware acceleratormodule or within a host processor module. In addition, other relativelyless computationally intensive operations/blocks/modules may similarlybe performed within a hardware accelerator module or within a hostprocessor module.

Generally speaking, assuming that the wireless system's broadcastedinformation requires certain computationally intensive tasks and othersbeing less intensive for decoding purposes, various means may beperformed by storing the results of computationally relatively moreintensive real-time operations and then performing post-processing onthose stored results later in an off-line (or reduced hardwarefunctionality set configuration) manner during Discontinuous Reception(DRX) mode may be performed.

By using certain aspects as presented herein, significant reduction inpower consumption for the purpose of frame synchronization in wirelesscommunication systems may be achieved, and particularly in DRX modes.From certain perspectives, this is facilitated by progressivelypowering-off specific components of a mobile station (wirelesscommunication device) much earlier than that utilized by existingapproaches within the art.

Faster processing of broadcasted frame synchronization informationoffered by the various means presented herein facilitate a much fasteravailability to higher layers and hence a reduced time in cellreselection scenarios, where reselections are contingent on earliestavailability of frame synchronization information.

It is noted that the various modules (e.g., RF modules, basebandprocessing modules, memory modules, decoding modules, hardwareaccelerator modules, etc.) described herein may be a single processingdevice or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing devicemay be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor,microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array,programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals(analog and/or digital) based on operational instructions. Theoperational instructions may be stored in a memory. The memory may be asingle memory device or a plurality of memory devices. Such a memorydevice may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory,non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, and/orany device that stores digital information. It is also noted that whenthe processing module implements one or more of its functions via astate machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logiccircuitry, the memory storing the corresponding operational instructionsis embedded with the circuitry comprising the state machine, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. In such anembodiment, a memory stores, and a processing module coupled theretoexecutes, operational instructions corresponding to at least some of thesteps and/or functions illustrated and/or described herein.

The present invention has also been described above with the aid ofmethod steps illustrating the performance of specified functions andrelationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functionalbuilding blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined hereinfor convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences canbe defined so long as the specified functions and relationships areappropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences arethus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.

The present invention has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the performance of certainsignificant functions. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description.Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significantfunctions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocksmay also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certainsignificant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram blockboundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and stillperform the certain significant functionality. Such alternatedefinitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocksand sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimedinvention.

One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functionalbuilding blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and componentsherein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components,application specific integrated circuits, processors executingappropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.

Moreover, although described in detail for purposes of clarity andunderstanding by way of the aforementioned embodiments, the presentinvention is not limited to such embodiments. It will be obvious to oneof average skill in the art that various changes and modifications maybe practiced within the spirit and scope of the invention, as limitedonly by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a radio frequency (RF)module to perform parallel processing of a plurality of pagingbroadcasts corresponding to a plurality of servicing cells to generate aplurality of demodulated signals; a hardware accelerator module, coupledto the RF module, to process the plurality of demodulated signals togenerate a corresponding plurality of soft symbol groups such that eachsoft symbol group corresponds to one of the plurality of servicingcells, wherein the hardware accelerator module includes a memory moduleto store each of the plurality of soft symbol groups; a host processormodule, coupled to the hardware accelerator module, to: perform serialViterbi decoding of each of the plurality of soft symbol groups togenerate a plurality of broadcast channel transport blocks such thateach broadcast channel transport block corresponds to one of theplurality of servicing cells; and perform serial processing of theplurality of broadcast channel transport blocks to generate a pluralityof system frame numbers, for use in timing synchronization with respectto the plurality of servicing cells, such that each frame numbercorresponds to one of the plurality of servicing cells; and a controlmodule, coupled to the RF module, the hardware accelerator module, andthe host processor module, to: turn on each of the RF module, thehardware accelerator module, and the host processor module at abeginning of a wakeup period; turn off the RF module after each of theplurality of soft symbol groups is stored in the memory module; turn offthe hardware accelerator module after the host processor module hasgenerated the plurality of broadcast channel transport blocks; and turnoff the memory module and the host processor module after the pluralityof system frame numbers is generated and output to a higher protocollayer module.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the plurality ofpaging broadcasts received via a Paging Indicator Channel (PICH).
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein: the hardware accelerator module furtherincludes at least one of a descrambler, a despreader, a pilot filteringmodule, a rake combining module, and a deinterleaver module, to processthe plurality of demodulated signals to generate the correspondingplurality of soft symbol groups.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:the hardware accelerator module further includes a deinterleaver moduleand at least one other module; the at least one other module to performparallel processing of the plurality of demodulated signals to generatea processed plurality of demodulated signals; and the deinterleavermodule to perform serial processing of the processed plurality ofdemodulated signals to generate the corresponding plurality of softsymbol groups.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein: the memory moduleto store each of the processed plurality of demodulated signals; and thedeinterleaver module to retrieve serially the processed plurality ofdemodulated signals from the memory module in accordance with performingserial processing of the processed plurality of demodulated signals togenerate the corresponding plurality of soft symbol groups.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein: the hardware accelerator module furtherincludes a deinterleaver module that deinterleaves each of the pluralityof soft symbol groups before outputting them to the host processormodule.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the hardware acceleratormodule includes a plurality of rake fingers; and each of the pluralityof rake fingers to process a respective one of the plurality ofdemodulated signals to generate a respective one of the correspondingplurality of soft symbol groups.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:each of the plurality of rake fingers includes a respective at least oneof a descrambler, a despreader, and a pilot filtering module to processthe respective one of the plurality of demodulated signals to generatethe respective one of the corresponding plurality of soft symbol groups.9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the apparatus is operative withina wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) communication system;and each of the plurality of servicing cells operates in accordance withWCDMA.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the apparatus is awireless communication device; and the wireless communication device isa laptop host computer, a personal digital assistant host, a personalcomputer host, or a cellular telephone host.
 11. An apparatus,comprising: a radio frequency (RF) module to perform parallel processingof a plurality of paging broadcasts corresponding to a plurality ofservicing cells to generate a plurality of demodulated signals; abaseband processing module, coupled to the RF module, to performparallel processing of the plurality of demodulated signals to generatea corresponding plurality of soft symbol groups such that each softsymbol group corresponds to one of the plurality of servicing cells; amemory module, coupled to the baseband processing module, to store eachof the plurality of soft symbol groups; a deinterleaver module, coupledto the memory module, to perform serial processing of each soft symbolgroup to generate a corresponding plurality of deinterleaved soft symbolgroups; a host processor module, coupled to the deinterleaver module,to: perform serial Viterbi decoding of each of the plurality ofdeinterleaved soft symbol groups to generate a plurality of broadcastchannel transport blocks such that each broadcast channel transportblock corresponds to one of the plurality of servicing cells; andperform serial processing of the plurality of broadcast channeltransport blocks to generate a plurality of system frame numbers, foruse in timing synchronization with respect to the plurality of servicingcells, such that each frame number corresponds to one of the pluralityof servicing cells; and a control module, coupled to the RF module, thebaseband processing module, the memory module, the deinterleaver module,and the host processor module, to: turn on each of the RF module, thebaseband processing module, the memory module, the deinterleaver module,and the host processor module at a beginning of a wakeup period; turnoff the RF module and the baseband processing module after each of theplurality of soft symbol groups is stored in the memory module; turn offthe memory module and the deinterleaver module after the host processormodule has generated the plurality of broadcast channel transportblocks; and turn off the host processor module after the plurality ofsystem frame numbers is generated and output to a higher protocol layermodule.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein: the plurality of pagingbroadcasts received via a Paging Indicator Channel (PICH).
 13. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein: the RF module includes a plurality ofrake fingers; and each of the plurality of rake fingers to process arespective one of the plurality of paging broadcasts to generate arespective one of the corresponding plurality of demodulated signals.14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein: the baseband processing moduleincludes a plurality of rake fingers; and each of the plurality of rakefingers to process a respective one of the plurality of demodulatedsignals to generate a respective one of the corresponding plurality ofsoft symbol groups.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein: theapparatus is operative within a wideband code division multiple access(WCDMA) communication system; and each of the plurality of servicingcells operates in accordance with WCDMA.
 16. The apparatus of claim 11,wherein: the apparatus is a wireless communication device; and thewireless communication device is a laptop host computer, a personaldigital assistant host, a personal computer host, or a cellulartelephone host.
 17. A method, comprising: employing a radio frequency(RF) module to perform parallel processing of a plurality of pagingbroadcasts corresponding to a plurality of servicing cells therebygenerating a plurality of demodulated signals; operating a hardwareaccelerator module for processing the plurality of demodulated signalsthereby generating a corresponding plurality of soft symbol groups suchthat each soft symbol group corresponds to one of the plurality ofservicing cells; storing each of the plurality of soft symbol groups ina memory module; turning off the RF module after each of the pluralityof soft symbol groups is stored in the memory module; operating a hostprocessor for performing serial Viterbi decoding of each of theplurality of soft symbol groups thereby generating a plurality ofbroadcast channel transport blocks such that each broadcast channeltransport block corresponds to one of the plurality of servicing cells;perform serial processing of the plurality of broadcast channeltransport blocks thereby generating a plurality of system frame numbers,for use in timing synchronization with respect to the plurality ofservicing cells, such that each frame number corresponds to one of theplurality of servicing cells; turning on each of the RF module, thehardware accelerator module, the memory module, and the host processormodule at a beginning of a wakeup period; turning off the RF moduleafter each of the plurality of soft symbol groups is stored in thememory module; turning off the hardware accelerator module after thehost processor module has generated the plurality of broadcast channeltransport blocks; and turning off the memory module and the hostprocessor module after the plurality of system frame numbers isgenerated and output to a higher protocol layer module.
 18. The methodof claim 17, wherein: the plurality of paging broadcasts received via aPaging Indicator Channel (PICH).
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein:the method is performed within a communication device that is operativewithin a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) communicationsystem; and each of the plurality of servicing cells operates inaccordance with WCDMA.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein: the methodis performed within a wireless communication device; and the wirelesscommunication device is a laptop host computer, a personal digitalassistant host, a personal computer host, or a cellular telephone host.